Thirty associations, supported by the host Stéphane Bern and many researchers, oppose the “security” work launched by the town hall.
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In the pallor of the chalk walls, the place is fresh. It is between 10 to 12 ° C there, a real happiness when the surface temperature is around 30 ° C. The visit of the 8 kilometers of Galeries of the Arnaudet quarry, in Meudon (Hauts-de-Seine), several tens of meters deep, on three levels, reveals an impressive, superb place, with its semicircular vaults which recall the Romanesque churches.
This place classified as historic monuments since 1986, is at the heart of a conflict between the town hall and the prefecture, and around thirty associations, including sites and monuments, living in Meudon, Alternatiba, Youth for Climate, lands of struggles, France Nature Environnement…
On the one hand, therefore, the town hall which started “Safety” work “, preparing the filling of a large part of the career to avoid a possible collapse. On the other hand, the opponents who denounce this project, bringing in them “the destruction of the heritage and the environment of the Rodin hill”, under which the Arnaudet career is located. The industrial history of the place dates back to the exploitation of chalk, to manufacture the “white of Meudon”, in the 19th e century. In the 20th e , it is the culture of mushrooms that benefits from the darkness and humidity of the career. But the Arnaudet career has mainly geological interest, accumulating the chalk of the upper Cretaceous, the clays of the Sparnacian, the Lutetian limestones and the gypsum of the Ludien.
the precedent of Clamart
With the start of July starting preparatory work – Installation of conveyor carpets to bring the filling land and concrete walls to contain these lands – the situation is tense. Franck Derère, Deputy Director General of the Town Hall Services, evokes acts of vandalism, it seems to be carried out on the night of July 7 to 8, theft of security phones, fire extinguishers … “We will file a complaint, these Acts are likely to extend the deadlines for the work, “he says.
According to the mayor of Meudon, Denis Larghero (UDI, Union of Democrats and Independents), “the filling has not yet started but this project is planned to last from six to eight months”. Its budget is estimated at six million euros, 50 % of which are provided by the Barnier Fund, intended for the prevention of natural risks, 30 % by the wasteland of the Ile-de-France region and the 20 % by the City de Meudon and the few private owners of these careers.
To justify this project, the town hall is based on reports from the National Institute of the Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS). In the synthesis of a July 2017 study report, the ineris recorded “more than 100 pillars”, 106 exactly, presenting risks. He believes “that the potential risk of mass collapse of pillars exists on this site”. This allows the town hall to justify the filling of 45 % of the career. It is also based on the accident in June 1961 in Clamart, a neighboring city, where a collapse of careers resulted in the death of 20 people.
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